Pythagoras suggested that his students close their evening by reviewing the thoughts, words and deeds of the day. We need to be fair, impartial in our assessment. Where have we gone amiss? And what have we done about our misdeeds, our mis-spoken words? Gandhi advocated not letting the sun set on an apology that needs to be given.

On what counts can we congratulate ourselves? And what have we learned?

Just as daily brushing out our tangles prevents huge knots from forming in our hair, culling through our actions of each day gives us the opportunity to catch mistakes while they are still small. We also give ourselves credit for improvement, staying on the positive. We reinforce what we have learned from others and for ourselves.

If we think of our days as providing a banquet of learning possibilities, reviewing the day is a chance to digest and assimilate everything we’ve taken in. We also have the chance to reject whatever hinders our life progress.

Imagine how much more we could squeeze out of each day if we could stay awake long enough to perform a thorough review!  Eventually, though, as the review becomes natural to our way of life, we are periodically reviewing ourselves throughout our day. Some part of ourself remains the impartial witness, with whom we can continually check in to self-correct and self-guide.